In 2026, a group of students from the Master in Cultural Studies at KU Leuven — Foteini Terzaki, Sofía Croxatto Concha, Wodan Van den Heede, Defne Tekin, Ricardo da Rocha, Valeria Carmela Gallo, Jana Bezrukova, Dimitris Arampatzis, and Sofie Schleppers — brought Ordinary Matters to life: a one-issue printed magazine built around a core concept of cultural studies, Raymond Williams’ idea that “culture is ordinary.” According to Williams, everything matters; small gestures, habits, objects, tastes, and everyday practices, all carry social, cultural, and political meaning. The printed magazine offered insight into students’ personal experiences at KU Leuven while also raising broader theoretical questions, connecting personal experiences to wider cultural and political phenomena, and taking the forms of essays, reviews, interviews, poems, diary entries, visual art, and more.
Created by part of the Ordinary Matters team enrolled in the Online Publishing course taught by Frederik Truyen — Defne Tekin, Ricardo da Rocha, Valeria Carmela Gallo, Jana Bezrukova, and Dimitris Arampatzis — the Ordinary Matters blog seeks to expand the magazine project beyond its printed issue, by connecting Cultural Studies students across time through a shared digital space that remind them that everything matters.
We hope you will enjoy our ordinary matters.
